'....the "Sephton Candlestick" used at Ring Feasts was presented to the Ring
in memory of Percy Sephton, a Hartley Bagman by his daughter, Mrs Lea,
with the request that it be kept in Thaxted church (Seph considered Thaxted
to be the Mecca of Morris) and be made available to Hartley whenever they
require it.....'
extracts from "Some Possessions of the Morris Ring" From The Morris
Dancer Vol.1,No3
and from "Stansted and Hartley Morris Men" From The Morris Dancer
Vol.1,No7
Percy Sephton was the main link man between the Stansted Morris Men and Hartley
Morris Men,
being the official "Fool" of the former and the primary recruiting agent
for the latter. Several of
the older guard of Morris dancers will remember Percy from Thaxted Ring Meetings
in the 1950's,
where he regularly appeared as an "unattached" dancer.*
| He never wore Morris kit (except when Stansted or Hartley also
were present), preferring instead to appear in his favoured costume of blue cap, blue jersey and blue trousers. As he was quite small and practically spherical in shape, with little arms and legs sticking out at regular intervals all round, this tended to give him the appearance of a Michelin Man who had joined the Merchant Navy. |
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He would watch the various displays and then attach himself to any side
which was prepared to accept him for the massed displays, thereby presenting a somewhat incongruous picture, with everybody else in the morris whites which were pretty well universally worn at that time. |
Percy acted as both Bagman and Fool of the newly-formed Hartley Morris Men from1952 to 1957,and died some eight years later. The present team still possess his old Stansted Fool's kit. This newspaper cutting from 1953 shows him in his Hartley Fool's Kit.
After his death, his daughter presented the magnificent three-branched silver
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The Sephton Candlesticks have been at four Hartley Morris Men events
- originally on the occasion of our 25th. anniversary, when it was the first
time that the candlestick
had left the custody of the Ring since its presentation ten years previously.
In 1982 we celebrated our
30th.anniversary by organising our first Ring Meeting. We saw it again at
the Wrotham School
when we celebrated our 40th. anniversary by holding our second Ring Meeting.
In the summer of 1994, the Weald of Kent Morris Men were dancing at a local
fete
when one of the stall holders came up and introduced herself as Jean Sephton
Lea,
and said that her father had been closely associated with the Hartley Morris
Men.
Luckily, one of the Weald of Kent men was also a veteran member of Hartley,
and
so we were able at last to remake the contact with the Sephton family.
On March 1st. 1996, Jean graciously accepted an invitation to be guest of
honour at
the Hartley Annual Dinner and to commemorate the event we called upon the
terms
of her original gift request and obtained the use of the Sephton candlesticks
for the event.
where on the top table, they glowed throughout the evening in red, white
and blue colours
that were so fitting for the occasion.
The candle sticks will next be with us in 2002 when we host a Ring Meeting to celebrate our 50th anniversary.
* The Morris Ring at that time had a special officer to deal with
such individualists. His name was Walter Newall
and his official title was "Correspondent for Unattached Dancers", but he
was generally
(and less pedantically) known by all and sundry as Chief of the Odds and
Sods.
Written by Bob Tatman of Hartley Morris Men
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